My friend MixMaker117 posted up a vid of Halo 4 Easter Eggs and Glitches. If you haven’t found some of the Easter Eggs, this is a good video to find out where to look for them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIepJVGs60Q&feature=youtu.be
-Sal
Monthly Archives: May 2014
Halo Concept Art: Halo 4 Environments Part 1 of 5 – rough concepts
Today there are three DOZEN concepts to show in the rough concept stage. I’m breaking from the normal format and am going to post a gallery instead of each individual pic. As such, you’ll have to click on whichever thumbnail to view the whole pic. (If I didn’t do it this way, this article would be MASSIVE.)
There is so much goodness in these thumbnails. Have fun exploring the gallery. Feel free to download. If you repost any, let people know that you found them here on HaloFanForLife.com
What do you think of this format, versus me explaining each pic? Let me know, reply below. If you’re not registered with the blog, it’s free to do so. Click HERE to find out how to register.
-Sal
Halo 5 Guardians Cloning theory.
My good friend, PensHalo, has come up with a theory for Halo 5 Guardians that deserves some attention. Take a read and let me know what you think of his theory.
With the release of the new of Halo 5: Guardians last week along with the initial image, the anticipation for the next Halo game has started. The questions are flying regarding who is the person in the top half of the image. I started wondering myself who this could be. As many have pointed out the person is possibly an ONI operative as the ONI logo can be seen on the chest plate of the armor being worn. In addition, this person (who is not female as reported by Josh Holmes and Frank O’Connor) is male. He has a slighter build than Master Chief which is why many, myself included, thought this could be a female character.
For some reason, I was reminded of the opening cut scene of Halo 4 that has Halsey being interrogated by someone. During that discussion the following is spoken:
Interrogator: “Do you believe the Master Chief succeeded because he was, at his core, broken?”
Halsey: “What does John have to do with this? …you want to replace him.”
In the Halo universe after the war, ONI has been extremely busy trying to keep the Sangheili busy with their own Civil War so they can’t turn on Humans. There also seems to be a bit of a struggle between ONI and the UNSC as seen in the Kilo-Five Trilogy by Karen Traviss and in the Halo Escalation #1. So what would ONI need to help swing the balance of power in their direction? Master Chief. Or more specifically, the legend that Master Chief has become. Without argument he is the greatest Spartan II and is a mythic figure, right up there with Achillies, Ajax, Roland, and the other great heroes of legend. Whomever the public feels he is siding with, they would side with them.
However, there are two items that make this more difficult for ONI. First off, as we saw in the early E3 trailer from 2013 it appears that Master Chief has gone rogue and is out there on his own. The second item is that he, like the other Spartan II’s, see Catherine Halsey as a mother –figure. As those in charge of ONI now and in the past have been at odds with Halsey it stands to reason that they would do whatever they could to take her greatest creation away from her. So this ONI operative in the image is pursuing John like Actaeon is pursued by his hounds. However they still need Master Chief. How do they do that?
They clone Master Chief.
Now I know that the only cloning that is ever really mentioned in the Halo universe is Flash cloning. This is a medical process used to clone body parts. It uses a sample of a person’s DNA to grow a cloned organ which can be transplanted back into that person with virtually no chance of rejection. This is the method used to replace the original Spartan II’s when they were kidnapped from their home. The cloning of an entire human is illegal as per the UN Colonial Mortal Dictata 1. In addition, those clones created by the flash method are highly unstable and in almost every case the clone dies from “metabolic cascade failure”.2
However, in this case ONI could just get their hands on Master Chief’s DNA and create the cloned embryo and then let it grow normally, which would avoid any of the problems that flash cloning brings. Letting the clone age normally until he was 13/14 and then going through the augmentation process would explain the comparably slight build as compared to Master Chief.
During the campaign, I can see you starting off as Master Chief trying to stay ahead of the ONI Operative and then switching to the Operative in trying to track Master Chief down. And in honor of Halo 2, the end is the two finally meet up and the screen cuts to black marking the end of this entry into the Halo universe. This would then be followed up by a boost in the economy as gamers go out to purchase new monitors/TV’s to replace the ones that they threw their controllers at and broke.
This is actually very interesting. Considering the timeline, it’s quite possible. Mind you if the clone was say 20 years old, he would have been alive before the events of Halo Reach an on. Still, Master Chief’s career was quite impressive, even before then. Imagine a clone of Chief though. He’s younger which could mean faster. However, he’s not as experienced. The shape of the ONI “spartan” makes sense too as he would have the time to bulk up as much as Chief.
So what do you folks think? Master “Clone”?
-Sal
I was gifted these cool Halo passes!
My friend @CarlClendenin sent me these passes a couple of days ago. I was ecstatic to receive them. The RTX one has that nice Halo 4 Lanyard, while the Halo 4 Global Championship badge is just all sorts of awesome. Not to mention, Carl also included the elusive collectible pin that you could only get there.
What makes these even better are that they aren’t just typical badges, but staff and exhibitor badges. They will hold a special place within my Halo collection.
That pin was one of only two that I need to complete the collection of the pins from last year. There were three others that I’m not sure if they were actually released or not. So that count could be four more needed…
Here are all of those pins, followed by the ones I have (checked), the one’s I’m not sure were made (with a ?) and the one I still need, with the yellow box around it.
If anyone knows of those three I have question marks for, PLEASE let me know. As for the Sarah Palmer one, if anyone has one or knows where I can get one (I’ve checked eBay, it’s not there anymore…), PLEASE let me know. Thanks!
-Sal
Halo Concept Art: Halo Reach Environments Part 3 of 3
Alirght then, here we are at the last part of the Reach environments I have to share at this time. It’s also the last part of the Reach concepts I have to share. Tomorrow will start the Halo 4 environment articles.
Let’s take a look at the rest of the reach concepts.
Part of the New Alexandria cityscape, this concept is fairly clean for a marker rendering. Many of the buildings in those missions had a fairly pristine look to them, even while under attack by the Covenant. This particular concept serves as a great point by which the environmental artists can draw from.
The concept above should be pretty familiar if you were playing Halo 3, while waiting for Halo Reach. It was used as a marketing tool. Powerhouse, for which this concept became the basis for, changed a bit in look from this. However,it did maintain the base structure and bridges. The right portion is what changed the most.
Did you know that this beacon can actually be seen in the game? While playing the middle portion of “Ling Night of Solace” fly your Sabre beyond the Space Station and you’ll see a similar beacon beyond it. Without a background or another object to give this scale, this beacon could have been any size the artists wanted it to be. While many times it’s a good idea to show scale, with certain objects, you might want to leave it up to the viewer to determine the size. In this case, that’s what happened. The only thing to give a clue to the size is the radar dish at the top right corner.
This is a concept of the interior of the Mutliplayer map “Anchor 9” It’s much more dark than the final version. I actually prefer this. In my opinion, darker spaces to play matchmaking in tend to focus the gamer to the task at hand. Otherwise, if you’re like me, I spent time, even during matches, exploring and looking at the details of maps. LOL
Here we see the basement of Sword Base. This area is seen twice in the campaign and can be seen somewhat on the Firefight map “Courtyard”. Though it’s tougher to see in the latter due to shielding getting in the way. This concept looks VERY much like the final version. I’d make a guess that this was further along in the design process than an initial sketch or color rendering.
Now this concept is interesting. It reminds me more of a scene from Halo CE, than Reach. This was to be a part of Sword Base. For whatever reason it was cut from the game. I’d love to see this space reused in a future Halo title. I do like the contrasting lighting. It clearly conveys that the lighted areas are the main hallways, while this room is just an offshoot of it.
Another of the marketing concepts, this Sword Base rendering might have you a little dizzy with it’s varied slanted bridges and angles. I’m a bit curious as to why the artist chose a cold blue theme for this concept. Perhaps it’s to help convey the location of Sword Base, which we know is in one of the coldest temperaments on Reach.
One of the rooms within Sword Base, this brightly lit concept was use, though parts of it were. I find it a little strange that there is a reception desk in the middle. It does add some realism though.
While this piece is marked as something from Sword Base, I can’t see where it would fit in. It looks as though the artist was going for a modular look for most of the sketches herein. The bottom middle sketch has me intrigued the most. I wonder what that device would have been used for?
And last but not least, the Traxus tower. Versions of this were seen as many buildings in the city. It was fun to fly around/above them with the Falcon. It’s plainly obvious that this skyscraper is very tall. The gentle horizontal lines in the left black portion tell us that those are individual stories within the building. So how tall is this tower? I hope for the next game we have a couple of missions or more that require flying, be they in a cityscape or in space.
Should I find more concepts from Reach, I’ll post those at a later date. I hope you’ve enjoyed the look back to Bungie’s last Halo game and hope you’ve seen some new things and have been entertained by the articles. If you’ve liked these, let me know by replying below.
Okay folks, tomorrow we move on to Halo 4’s Environments!
-Sal
New Halo Pinterest finds.
Every once in awhile, I peruse Pinterest to see if there are any Halo pics or graphics I haven’t seen before. Usually I find a few here and there. Today I looked and while only finding two new to me, it was still nice to find something out there, that I hadn’t seen before.
Here are those two graphics:
Both are well done. Simplistic approach to each, yet clearly recognizable for what they are.
To see these and MANY more Halo pics and graphics, check out my Pinterest page. You can always find it on the side bar to the right on the main page. For now though, you can go straight HERE to check it out.
Enjoy and repin away!!!
-Sal
Classic Halo theme in Guitar Hero
My bud, MixMaker117 posted this vid on YouTube. Looks like the players got 100% too. No small feat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHJ64GJ8g1k&feature=youtu.be&a
-Sal
Halo 5 race car in Forza 5!
A presumable Forza AND Halo fan, @Forza_ElMutem, made this in Forza using the newly released graphics for Halo 5 Guardians.
Pretty sweet! I’m not much of a racing gamer anymore, but this would be something that might get me thinking about it again.
Have you made a Halo themed race car in Forza? If so, I’d LOVE to see it and share it here on the blog. E-mail me at: [email protected] with your design.
-Sal
Halo Concept Art: Halo Reach Environments Part 2 of 3
Today we explore yet more of Reach’s environment concepts. There’s a good mix with a few pieces of line art. As usual, click on pics to make bigger. And feel free to download these too.
The vista isn’t in the game. Is this New Alexandria in the distance? Perhaps Sword base? Regardless, the ominous clouds tell of the foreboding attack to come. This in and of itself is a great piece of art, never mind that it pertains to Halo.
A scene form the campaign, this could be a representation of several places. It looks similar to a road in the first mission, “Winter Contingency”. It also looks like a road to Sword Base, but with vegetation instead of mostly snow and ice. One thing this concept has that wasn’t in the game at this scene is the darkness and fog. It seems Bungie artists really wanted to convey that something bad was going to happen.
Peaking out high above the invading Covenant army. While this concept is dark as well, it’s discernible what is taking place. With the presence of many purple lights, the Covenant has amassed a massive army with which to destroy Reach.
Another scene from “Winter Contingency”. Once again fog prevails. Add in rain and darkness and you get a sense of a very dismal day. A beautiful piece even in it’s darkness.
Here we have a concept of what I’m assuming is Sword base. However, the many buildings that stretch out form it do make me think New Alexandria as well. The muted color palette seems to state this is dawn and the sun is starting to crawl it’s way towards the structures.
Inside the factory on Boneyard. While this space changed in the final version, this piece shows the direction Bungie was going for. Very industrial. This could be any number of manufacturing plants on Earth today. It’s that balance of sci-fi and realism that I love about Halo. It’s something that COULD happen in the future.
Ah, New Alexandria. This many tiered view shows some of the heights that the city reaches to. In the game, this level is much more brightly lit. The sharp lighting on the middle structure is quite deliberate as the artist wants us to focus on that particular area. The many and varied angles might have been lost if not for the expert use of perspective in this piece. Very well done!
Various door concepts. These could be anywhere. From Sword Base to New Alexandria and the like. Without color it makes the doors utilitarian. Depending on what color scheme would be added to these, the doors could take on a different look and feel altogether, despite the underlying base art of the structure.
Another concept of the base at the end of Winter Contingency. This is a good semi-fleshed out concept. Not quite finished, but certainly not a sketch. I wish it were possible to recreate this in Forge. I’m hoping Halo 5’s forge will be extremely robust and will have plenty of varied textured pieces to it, so that something like the above will be possible.
The base that might have been. Would this have been the Winter Contingency Base or Sword Base? Looking at the concept, it really could have gone either way. Okay forge fans, let’s see someone make THSI! The art while over all blueish grey has a detail, texture, perspective and shading that is well placed.
An early concept of the satellite array. Even though it lacks color, this rendering is able to tell the scale of the parts involved. In art such as this, it’s VERY important to get perspective right. The addition of highlight and shadows in the right places can make a subject leap off a page, so-to-speak.
This appears to be a concept for the final room of the Winter Contingency mission. This area was of course heavily changed for the game, though there are still quite a few elements form this concept that made it in.
A small splash of color as seen in the above concept can really change the feeling of a subject. In the piece above, your eye is drawn more to the warmer colors. It’s as if the artist is saying, go into the hallway beyond, it’s safer there.
The last concept for part 2 of Reach’s environments shows the satellite dish form different views. The railings on the side view really add to the description of size of the dish. Without those, the dish could have been much smaller.
Okay, I’d have got this article done sooner, but was pulled away by family to go see a showing of X-Men: Days of Future Past. (I suggest see in it if you’re an X-Men fan. I liked it very much. Oh and be sure to stay ALL the way through the credits…)
Tomorrow (or rather later today), I have the third of the Reach Environment articles posted. Then Saturday, we’ll explore the environments of Halo 4.
-Sal
Master Chief on the cover of XBOX (UK) Magazine!
Sa-weet! I’m definitely going to buy this issue! Great to see Chief front and center! Now if I can get some help from one of my UK friends and/or readers.
Here’s the text blurb from xbox (UK):
Halo 5 is set to take on Titanfall and blow all the competition away as you’ll find out in the latest issue of X-ONE Magazine, on sale now. Master Chief’s next-gen debut leads 23 games that are only possible on Xbox One, detailed in issue #111 of the UK’s biggest independent Xbox mag.
From where this new game will be set, to the enemies that will be faced, how Kinect and SmartGlass might be involved and how to fix the multiplayer, we’ve delved deep into Halo once again to bring you all the latest info.
Also in X-ONE #111 we speak to BioWare about kicking off the big-budget RPGs of the generation with Dragon Age: Inquisition and ask Rocksteady why its Batman: Arkham Knight is only possible on next-gen systems.
We spent four hours playing Watch Dogs and bring you our 15 most enjoyable ways to cause havoc and mayhem on the streets of Chicago in Ubisoft’s incredible new sandbox game. We’ve also tracked down all 25 of the confirmed games for ID@Xbox and asked which of these Indie up and comers has what it takes to repeat the success of Minecraft?
X-ONE #111 is on sale now at all good newsagents and supermarkets. Alternatively you can have it delivered to your door by ordering a copy from our store. Great savings can be had if you subscribe to X-ONE (to save up to 30%) or by downloading X-ONE to your smartphone or tablet from Greatdigitalmags.com
-Sal
Of Halo leaks and theories.
Yesterday, I reposted the supposed leak from a supposed insider. A couple of people questions why I would do that and if it were appropriate for my blog.
The short answer is YES. However, let me explain.
On Friday, when the news broke of Halo 5 Guardians, we were all generally excited. It had been leaked the night before that we would hear of some news, just not specifically what that news would be. Did that take away from the news for me? Not at all. In fact it got me even more excited as I figured I wouldn’t be blindsided by info and could quickly share it with all of you good readers.
As evidenced on this very blog, theories abounded about the name, the concept art, and more. It was fun to guess, make conjecture, etc.
Fast forward to yesterday when someone wrote out a “leak” of what Halo 5 Guardians’ plot would be and what would be in multiplayer. Along with this Frank O’Connors reaction to it.
As a Halo fan, I would want to know if a leak happened, and more so, if the leak were TRUE. As a Halo blogger, I felt it my DUTY to report this news to you folks and repeatedly make mention that this news was NOT confirmed by 343.
While it may be disappointing to those at 343 (and understandably so), leaks happen in MANY industries. I see this happen very often in the toy industry. What does bother me is it seems that once again, 343 ids ill prepared to handle such leaks, be they true or not. Yes, in a perfect world, the developers themselves would be the ones to announce the news of their game. To do this, they really need to vet their employees more fully as well as those who play test for them, as the leaker claims to be one of. Regardless of that though, many of we fans have starved for ANY info about the next Halo game. Friday’s reveal was a great start, but was very minor in actuality, despite the coverage it received, here and elsewhere.
What we fans do NOT want to see is 343 once again ignoring stuff like leaks. Frank’s plea is a mixed bag with folks. Go on any number of forums and you’ll see people both for and against Frank on the issue. For the record, I completely understand Frank’s frustration. However, I do think he could have handled it more diplomatically.
As an example, it might have been said this way:
We are still more than a year from release of Halo 5 Guardians. Any information that comes from a source that is not 343 and/or Microsoft needs to be treated as rumor.
He could have also gone on to say:
This information is rather all encompassing. Some things may come to pass while others may not. It is still too early for us to discuss any of the finer details of the game as we are in development of it. In the months ahead, we will reveal things in due time.
Something like either of those statements would quell the leak somewhat. One issue though is that there are many fans who are leary of not having a straight up answer from 343. When you consider what they talked about before Halo 4 was released, then what we got in the game, there is reasonable cause for pause here. We asked of the “perks” rumor. They denied it or tried to twist it around, yet that’s essentially what we got.
There are other things I could go on about. The pint being, people are not as quick to trust when they have felt some varying degree of being “burned” or “deceived.”
As a person who has nearly 20 years in marketing, I’ve see whole ad campaigns, that have been in the works for months or longer, utterly destroyed by just ONE bad PR incident. Pro/competitive players are curious about what Halo 5’s multiplayer will bring. Is it more of the same? Will we have ranks again? Ranked and Social Playlists? And again, the list could go on. Halo Lore folks, like myself, are really jonesing for any information about what the next campaign will be.
So, YOU have to decide for yourself. Did this leak HURT or HELP Halo 5? It is my opinion that even if this information is wrong, it has still created more of a stir for the game. That can only be a good thing. Of course, if you believe all of that leak, you may well be in for a surprise and/or a let down. So do yourselves a favor and do not take it seriously. Until/Unless 343 refutes it, it should be considered rumor/conjecture/supposition by someone.
As to those questioning me personally about having that info on the blog… As I expressly said it should be considered rumor, not official, and the like, I think I’ve made it abundantly clear where I stand on this. With respect to those questioning me, is there any harm in reporting this? How am I any different than the likes of IGN for instance? Is it because they are a HUGE site that they are allowed to report on this? I should hope you good readers would actually appreciate reading this at a fan’s site, than one of the mega gaming news sites that posts the story for news fodder and moves on. I am very much entrenched in Halo. You see that on a daily basis when you come here to the blog. If I thought posting that would ruin my credibility, might I have considered posting it? The answer there is NO. I still would have posted it. Why? Well to put it bluntly, this is MY blog. I pay for it. I didn’t leak this info. I just reposted it.
One BIG reason why I created this blog was because I was being censored or held back at another Halo site I was heavily involved with. I want to share everything I can and in a responsible way. If I was being responsible about the leak article, I would have said it was true or something along those lines. I hope you all think and know better of me than that.
So you won’t find me apologizing for reposting the leak. If anything, it may just keep 343 “honest”. Meaning that they are more under the gun to deliver clear, concise, and timely information about Halo 5 Guardians, rather than try to keep things so secret. That approach failed them miserably with Halo 4. I think most of us would agree that we don’t want to see Halo 5 fail either. Especially because 343 can’t handle leaks or PR incidents.
I’ve said repeatedly that I only wish the best success for 343 and I still mean that.
-Sal
The Halo Bulletin 5-22-14
It’s 2:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on Friday, March 16. HFFL: Sorry for the interruption, Bravo. It was May, not March. Okay, carry on. After about an hour of sleep, my alarm goes off, but for the first time in weeks, and possibly months, I don’t hit the snooze button. Instead, I jump out of bed, throw a hoodie on, grab my backpack and keys, and I’m out the door. After a quick, foggy-eyed drive down the road, I swipe my badge at the door, and find a (mostly empty) studio, with a few fellow members of the Community team already at their desks. It was time to announce the title of the next installment in the legendary saga of the Master Chief, Halo 5: Guardians.
Last week’s announcement was, as Frankie said, a big weight off of our shoulders. For nearly a year, you’ve been wanting to know more about the future of Halo on Xbox One, and being able to finally announce this title, along with releasing some visuals, was exciting to say the least. Seeing the immediate response, analysis of the visuals and name itself, as well as all of the new discussions that emerged was overwhelming. We were thrilled to join in on the long-awaited excitement and conversation for the first time since last year. We’ll be able (and can’t wait) to share details about what’s coming for the Halo franchise in 2014 in just a few short weeks at E3.
HFFL: Hopefully, 343 will address the leak by the supposed insider. Either refuting it, confirming parts of it, just please do not completely IGNORE it…
Last week, we released some exclusive Halo 5: Guardians wallpapers (you can snag ‘em here), and today, due to requests from you, the community, we prepared wallpapers of Friday’s concept art from our very own Sparth. Download below, and beautify your screens.
Desktop – 1024×768, 1280×720, 1920×1080
Windows Phone – Surface – Android – Android Tablet – iPhone 5 – iPad – iPad Mini – iPad 2
Next up, we’ve got some Matchmaking goodies as well as community creations. Let’s dig in!
Matchmaking Playlist Update
Last week, we sat down and brainstormed about which King of the Hill game types we could include in the Community Choice Poll. During a quick run down memory lane (which is fairly common for a Community Choice Poll brainstorm), we stopped at Halo 3’s Mosh Pit, and immediately knew that it had to be included for community consideration. Apparently you did as well, as the game type earned nearly 80% of your votes, and will be included in the King of the Hill playlist this coming Monday. Once you’re done BBQ’ing with the family, jump into the Mosh Pit. Actually, it may be best to wait 30 minutes after eating before doing so.
Additionally, we’ll be adding Stealth King to the playlist. The game type is quite different from traditional King of the Hill – each player is equipped with a Sniper Rifle, Plasma Grenades, and the Thruster Pack. Oh, and all players in the Hill have Active Camouflage. If it sounds crazy, it absolutely is, and we hope you enjoy this new fun game type during King of the Hill’s reign as our featured playlist.
HFFL: A variant of Stealth King was playable in Halo Reach. I’m definitely looking forward to playing that game type.
We’ve also added several new game types to other playlists – included in this list is the following:
- Added Oddball to Team Doubles
- Added Neutral Flag to Team Doubles
- Added Neutral Flag to Team Heavies
To enjoy these new experiences in Halo 4 Matchmaking, jump in and try ‘em out!
The Master of Master Chief Makeup
We don’t often get the chance to talk about makeup on The Bulletin, so we were excited to see Elsa Rhae’s absolutely incredible makeup and face painting skills highlighted on thechive.com. Elsa is in a category several steps above that guy who can slap a set of kitten whiskers on your little sister at the county art fair. Of course, we’re particularly impressed by her Master Chief face paint, but you should check out the rest of her impressive breadth of work at her Facebook and Instagram or even take a master class from her, courtesy of her YouTube channel.
Community Spotlight Shines Again
The acclaimed and mysterious author of our Community Spotlight recently returned from their sabbatical. The weeks spent on a moisture farm near Tashi Station have treated him them well and the series returned this week with renewed spirit!
This week, learn all about Mastrbiggy from HBO’s news team and look forward to future installments of this bi-weekly series.
HFFL: Just once, I’d love to see a fan spotlighted who ISN’T from one of the huge sites. No offense to any of those sites. However, they have well more than enough publicity and members. I wish 343 would take a page from Bungie when Bungie used to spotlight small sites/groups/etc. Some of those sites are just as dedicated to Halo, even if they aren’t as big/popular/as well staffed/etc. I can think a several I’d like to see be spotlighted who I think are deserving of it, given their passion and dedication to Halo. (And no, I do not mean me, though it of course would be an honor.)
Screenshot Spotlight: Shotgun
Last week, we turned the spotlight on the Sticky Detonator. Take a gander at the following Shotgun screenshots, and maybe even find inspiration to make your own.
HFFL: From this gallery I like the following: “Spark of Life” and “Enter the matrix”.
For your chance at being in the next spotlight, take a screenshot from a King of the Hill match and then tag it with “KotH” and “Halo Waypoint,” and maybe, just maybe, yours will be featured in the next Halo Bulletin!
And with that, this week’s Bulletin comes to a close.
Until next week,
Bravo
HFFL: Is it me or are the bulletins a bit sparse of late? Hopefully they are saving up for E3 in just a few short (LONG) weeks….
-Sal
Halo Concept Art: Halo Reach Environments Part 1 of 3
Today, we explore some of the environments of Reach. As I have nearly 40 concepts to show, I’ve decided to split this up into 3 articles. There is a good mix of campaign and multiplayer environments awaiting! As always click on them to make them MUCH bigger.
Let’s get right to it!
Anchor 9 seen in the campaign mission, “Long Night of Solace.” I know I keep using many of the same words when describing these concepts. The point is, it’s true. Detail is KING is the above concept. There is so much visually to take in with this concept that if you’re looking at it for less than 30 seconds, you’re doing an injustice to yourself. The design, texture, shading, scale and perspective brought together to make this a true work of art.
The campaign and invasion map, “Boneyard” is one of the biggest maps we’ve had in Halo to date. The map itself was somewhat under utilized. As the campaign level, I found myself sticking more to the left (open-cliff side) of the map. As the Invasion map, it was mostly the middle and base side of the map being used. However, there is a LOT more to it. The concepts above show us work areas in varying states of use. The one showing the larger area of the map gives us the overall sense of grandeur that the map has within, while the close-up pic gives us a glimpse of the minute detail Bungie put into it. Both are well done with contrasting highlights and shadows.
The two concepts above are a couple of my more favorite ones from Reach. So rich in color and texture. Of note, we see that the map originally did NOT have a center floor to it (top pic). This is why that area had low gravity to it. The low gravity remained, while a floor was put in. The bottom pic of the two is just chock full of detail. The space changed very little in it’s base design from what we got in the final, other than adding a partially disassembled Sabre in it. I had LOTS of fun on this map and hope this kind of map returns in Halo 5 Guardians.
Glassing at it’s worst. We see first-hand the devastation by the Covenant via the glassing ports of their starships. This is something I wish we would have seen up close, rather than from afar. It certainly had the potential to have us be more emotionally involved in the story. We did get some of this during the campaign, just not enough, IMO. As for the art, striking color contrast between the red/browns and purple make for a very visually compelling rendering. While it’s horrific in the act, there is a strange sense of beauty to the art itself.
Let this concept sink in for a minute. Do you know where it is? Hint, it’s NOT in the campaign, though it could have been. It’s a part of the Spartan training area on the multiplayer map “Highlands.” What I like about this piece is the mix of natural and man-made elements. The mesh together quite nicely. The overgrowth and damage to the facility adds a whole other level of realism to it. I was happy to have this map in matchmaking. Though, I think I might have preferred this version, versus the cleaner version we got.
Here we have the largest of the Firefight maps for Reach. Unearthed. This industrial mining yard was expansive. I wish Bungie would have map it a multiplayer map as well. The concepts great. The top one being very believable as an actual place. The bottom shows us part of the map that’s out of bounds. Simple in texture, the art still clearly states the size of the map. BTW, it IS possible to get outside of the playable area and see the rest of the map. Has to be done through theater though. If I had a capture device, I’d be able to show you. Hopefully one day, I’ll have that. I’ve wanted to make SO many videos, not just of reach, but Halo 4 as well.
Here we are at the beginning of the mission, “Tip of the Spear.” This concept is gritty in design and very earthy in texture and color. Note that quick shading techniques were used here to convey shape and size. BTW, did you know that in part of the cut scene for this, you can hear the infamous “Wilhelm” scream? It’s when thee warthog following you, with marines in it, doesn’t make the jump. One of them makes that scream. It’s a great homage to theater of old.
So where is THIS dark place? Could it be the base where we stave off several waves of Covies? The one where we along with Jorge go inside and secure the base and wipe out several Elites at the end of the mission? Whether it is or not, I would have LOVED to have played on this map. I like dark maps in the campaign. It adds suspense. The art above clearly shows that as dusk is giving way to night.
For the last image in part 1, we have the destruction of the UNSC Navy in space orbiting the planet Reach. When we first saw similar images of this prior to the release of the game, via trailers, we were left to wonder about the Spartan’s voice we heard. In the meantime, we saw the effects of planet-wide devastation at the hands of the Covenant.
Remember Reach!
Tomorrow, we’ll continue with more environments of Reach. After the third part, we’ll switch to environments of Halo 4.
I know I ask this, which means I’m sincere about wanting to know, are you enjoying these concept articles? Anything about them you don’t like? Let me know. Your opinion may help me decide how I write these in the future.
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-Sal
Halo 5 Campaign/Multiplayer leaked??? Take with a HUGE grain of salt!
This has not been confirmed (or denied) by 343. So please take this with a huge grain of salt. The supposed insider has said they have played H5’s campaign and multiplayer.
If what they write is to be believe, then 343 is throwing everything but the kitchen sink into Halo 5.
Read on, potential spoilers. Again, THIS HAS NOT BEEN CONFIRMED. So do not take it as truth.
Click on each part to make BIGGER.
Please folks, do NOT tout this as fact. Even Frank O’Conner himself is a bit POed at this “leak”. Does that mean it’s real? Until/unless 343 states it is or isn’t, take it as something fan made and NOT to be taken seriously.
-Sal
Halo TV show intro leaked???
Okay, yes, I know…LOL. I rarely post this kind of thing, but I thought it was funny.
When the real deal shows up, you can BET I’ll be on it and posting it here!
-Sal